


Your Changing Body

by the_deep_magic



Series: Nina 'verse [2]
Category: Actor RPF, Star Trek RPF
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Menstruation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-01
Updated: 2010-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-19 11:04:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_deep_magic/pseuds/the_deep_magic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris finds Something Distressing in their daughter’s room.  He and Zach call for backup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Changing Body

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Nina 'verse, takes place about four years before "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

“ZAAAAACH!”

Perhaps Zach should have been alarmed by his husband’s screech from upstairs, but it was less a “help-I’m-being-mauled-by-bears” sound than an “I’m-about-to-have-a-dramatic-episode” one, so he didn’t bother to set aside his script.  “If you want to talk to me, come downstairs like an adult and _talk_ to me,” he shouted in the general direction of the staircase.

“ZACHARY JOHN QUINTO, GET YOUR ASS UP HERE _RIGHT THE HELL NOW_!”

Zach sighed, shoving back from the table and abandoning his work, if only for the pleasure of punching Chris for the use of his full name.  He found Chris in Nina’s empty room, staring wide-eyed at something on the bed.  Her backpack was there, some of its contents scattered across the comforter.  “Alright, Christopher, what is it?”

With a look on his face of utter horror, Chris pointed at a small, flat, plastic-wrapped packet, no bigger than an index card.  Zach stared at it, then back at Chris.  “What?”  Chris merely gaped, pointing his trembling finger even harder at the item, as though that would somehow make it clearer.  “What am I not getting here?”

Chris paused in his moment of panic to roll his eyes theatrically.  “This is no time for obtuseness, Zachary.  _Look what fell out of her backpack_.”

Zach narrowed his eyes at the item in the pastel pink wrapper.  The flap appeared to be completely sealed, so Zach couldn’t see what was in there.  He racked his brain, trying to think of something that would get this reaction from Chris.  “Oh god,” he gasped, starting to panic himself.  “Is it… drugs?”

Chris’ jaw dropped open.  “No, you flailing buffoon!  It’s…  It’s a…”  He dropped his voice and leaned toward Zach.  “A _feminine hygiene product_.”

It honestly took Zach a moment – he heard the words “hygiene” and “feminine” and thought immediately of fruity body wash, baby powder-scented deodorant, pedicure sets, but then…  “Oh.  _Oh_.  Oh god.  Are you sure?”

“Am I…?  _Yes_ , Zach, I’m fucking _sure_.  Jesus, what planet do you live on?”

“I’ve never seen one in the wrapper!  I’ve only seen the boxes at the store and the… y’know, in commercials, when they’re pouring the blue liquid on them, which frankly always seemed a little disturbing to—”

“Focus, Zachary,” Chris groaned.  “We have an issue.  Nina is…”

“No.  No, she can’t be.  She’s only eleven.  Maybe she’s holding it for a friend?”  Zach whipped out his phone and pulled up Google.

“Holding it for a friend?  That’s what you say when your mom catches you with pot.  And it’s never true!  No, it’s been a while since high school biology, but I’m pretty sure it can start at eleven.”

Zach gaped at the screen of his phone, his denial rapidly faltering.  “This says it can happen as young as nine.  You don’t think she’s been…”  He can’t find it in himself to say it out loud, so he gestures frantically instead.  “…since she was _nine_ , do you?”

“No.  God, just, _no_.  She’d have said… or we’d have noticed…  What the fuck do we do, Zach?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the level-headed one!  Plus, you’re older and have more, um, life experience?”

“Huh-uh, no, you do _not_ get to throw that at me now,” Zach groaned, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes.  “Okay.  Okay.  Okay.  Let’s not panic.  We knew this day was coming.  We talked about it, right?”

“Well.  When she was four, I think I said, ‘What are we going to do when puberty rolls around?’ and you slapped me upside the head and told me not to talk about our baby girl that way,” Chris said primly, and from the self-righteous look on his face Zach knew he had tucked that particular memory away for just this occasion.

“That’s when I thought I had ten more years to get used to the idea.  Oh my god.”  Zach curled his fingers in his hair, tugging hard against his scalp as though he could physically pull the solution out of his head.  “What we need is a woman.”

Despite all the tension – or perhaps because of it – Chris began to giggle.  “Wow.  Something I thought I’d never hear from the mouth of Zach Quinto.”

“Shut it, Chris, I’m taking charge here.  Obviously this is something that is beyond both of us – we need some real, live, menstruating-female wisdom.”

That just made Chris laugh even harder.  “Menstruating.  Female.  Wisdom!” he wheezed, falling forward onto the bed.

Annoyed, Zach jabbed him in the ribs.  “Get it together, Pine.  You need to call your sister.”

Chris curled into a ball, the hysterical laughter slowly working its way out of his system until he was merely shaking and hiccupping.  “Zach,” he murmured unsteadily, his tone suddenly serious.  “If Nina really is… you know… that means it’s time for The Talk.”

Zach plopped down on the bed next to him, gently stroking his hair.  “I know.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Chris murmured, so quietly Zach could barely hear him.

“Well, I can’t do it without you.  If I’m the level-headed one, you’re the insightful one.  You get her better than I do.”

“’s not true,” Chris said, curling against Zach’s body.

“We’ll both do it,” Zach said, trying to sound sensible to cover up his trepidation.  “Do you think your sister will help us?”

“She’d better, otherwise we’re sunk.”

&&&

Two nights later, they managed to get Katie to agree to watch Nina – and tackle the female-only parts of the The Talk – while they went out.  It turned out to be a spectacular failure of a romantic dinner, but at least the food was good.  Zach had spent the last five minutes talking about a comic book artist he and Corey and Neal wanted to work with, but Chris just stared into the middle distance and chewed mechanically at his dinner.

“…and that’s when I decided to change my name to Dick Punchmaster, don a cape, and fight crime with my bare fists,” Zach finished.

“Mm-hmm,” said Chris, taking a sip of his wine.  Zach sat silently and waited for it.  And waited for it.  “Dick Punchmaster?”

“Just checking to see if you were paying attention.  Which you weren’t.”

“Shit, Zach, I’m sorry,” Chris sighed.  “I just keep thinking about Nina.  What Katie’s telling her.  What she’s telling Katie.”

“Me too,” Zach admitted.  “What the hell are we going to _say_?”

“Do we tell her to wait until she’s in love?  ‘Til she’s eighteen?  ‘Til she’s married?  What if she asks us what _we_ did?”

“Under no circumstances are you to tell her I lost my virginity at fourteen to Hannah Greenspan’s much older brother while she was at volleyball practice,” Zach groaned.

“I was a total dick when I was a teenager,” Chris muttered.  “I would’ve said anything to get a girl to sleep with me.  If Nina brought high-school-me home for dinner, I’d kill him.  With an axe.  A blunt one.”

They both sat silent for a moment, lost in thought.  Finally, Zach shook his head, reaching across the table to twine his fingers with Chris’.  “I always thought I wasn’t going to be the kind of father that was terrified of his daughter growing up, but here we are and all I want to do is—”

“Lock her in a tower.  And maybe in a chastity belt,” Chris finished.  “So we’re agreed – she can’t date until we’re both good and dead?”

Zach groaned again, softly.  “Would we even be having this conversation if she were a boy?  Oh my god, we’re horrible sexists.”

“We’re fathers,” Chris said, squeezing Zach’s hand and going suddenly from goofy to mature in that strange way he had.  “And also guys.  I think a certain measure of Neanderthal insanity goes along with that.  We just have to remember we can’t make all the decisions for her.”

“Sometimes I think—” Zach started, unsure if he wanted to finish his thought.  “Sometimes I think a mother would know what to do.  Just instinctively, you know?  And I wonder if we’re screwing her up.”

Chris let out a humorless chuckle.  “Me too.”

“And then I wonder if there’s this giant invisible iceberg of gay self-loathing banging around in my subconscious.”

“I think all parents go through something like this.  What if my kid had parents who had normal jobs?  What if my kid had both parents to raise him?  But my parents were actors and your mom raised you by herself, and we turned out okay.  Well, mostly.”

Zach blinked hard against the tears unexpectedly stinging his eyes.  “See?” he murmured, bringing Chris’ hand to his lips.  “Insightful.”

“Okay,” Chris said after a long pause, then checked his watch.  “We’ve only been gone an hour.  We’ve got to stay out of the house for at least another hour, so let’s try not to obsess about this.”

“Any suggestions?” Zach asked, picking up his fork again and trying to find his appetite.

“Please, Mr. Punchmaster, tell me all about your criminal-pummeling ways,” Chris said coyly, his foot lightly poking at Zach’s under the table.

“Well, some say the purse snatchers are the most satisfying to punch, but I’ve always preferred the corrupt CEOs.  Generally much doughier, you know, easier on the knuckles…”

&&&

They lingered over dessert and coffee as long as they could stand it.

“No texts from Katie,” Chris said, checking his phone as Zach drove.  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I’m gonna go with good thing,” Zach said.

“I’ve been thinking,” Chris said after a long moment.  “I think – for right now at least – we should go with the ‘boys and girls’ thing.  I know it’s, like, presumptively heteronormative and whatever, but I think she needs to understand what the world is going to expect of her before she can start to question it.”

Zach just snorted.

“What?” Chris asked.

“Heteronormative is not a word.”

“It is, too!”

“Don’t give me your bullshit, Berkeley.  It’s a godawful portmanteau and it’s pure academese.  Which is also not a word.”

“What, you’re the one who decides which words are words now?”

“Yup.  The OED just put me on its payroll.”

“If it conveys the concept, it’s a word,” Chris huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and slouching into his seat.

Zach spared him a quick glance and had to smile at the pouty indignation on his face.  “Chris?”  He grunted.  “I agree.  We start with the boys and girls stuff, but let her know there are other options.”

 Neither of them spoke again for the remainder of the drive home, though Chris gripped the door handle until his knuckles turned white and Zach couldn’t stop drumming his fingers nervously against the steering wheel.

When Zach finally pulled into the driveway and shut the car off, Chris leaned over the console and kissed him, tense and close-mouthed.  “Tell me it’s going to be okay.”

“Nina’s a smart, sensible, _good_ kid,” Zach said, cupping Chris’ face gently in his hand.  “It’s going to be okay.  Awkward as hell for the next half-hour, but okay.”

Chris sighed, nuzzling at Zach’s palm.  “It’s the awkward part I’m worried about.”

“It’s going to be worse for her.”

“God, I _know_.  There was a long stretch in middle school where my mom gave me a new version of The Talk after every PG-13 movie I saw.”

“That sounds like as much torture for us as it does for her,” Zach chuckled, kissing Chris on the nose before opening his door and getting out.  Once at the front door, he turned to Chris and said, “Let’s do this.”  Chris held up a fist, Zach bumped it, and they went inside.

Katie was in the living room watching CSI.  Chris reached over the back of the couch and grabbed her shoulders.  “Jesus, how long are they going to let this show go on?  It’s been twenty years.”

“Twenty-one,” Katie said, shutting off the TV as Chris vaulted over the back of the couch to sit next to her.

Zach decided to take the adult route and circled around the couch to sit on Katie’s other side.  He took a deep breath and asked, “So, what’s the word?”

“She’s only had her period for about three months now,” Katie said, and Zach saw Chris flinch visibly at the p-word.  “She knows what it is, all the basics.  Her friend Shannon’s been giving her pads to use.”

Chris turned to Zach.  “What do we know about Shannon?  Do we like her?”

“We met her parents at that PTA thing at the beginning of the year.  Her mom’s the one that kept telling you how great it was to meet you and how much she loved Star Wars.”

Chris grimaced.  “We’ll have to keep an eye on this ‘Shannon’ person.”

Zach laughed, but secretly sympathized with him.  “What else, Katie?”

“Well, she’s seen the ‘Your Changing Body’ video in health class.  I asked her how much she knew about sex and she said something along the lines of ‘Well, we have the internet.’”

“No more computer for her,” Chris said immediately.

“Or phone,” Zach agreed.  “Or television, just to be safe.  Disney movies only.”

“ _Animated_ Disney movies,” Chris said with a nod.

Katie just rolled her eyes.  “No need to panic yet.  I asked, and as far as I can tell, she just looked a few things up on Wikipedia because she was curious.  No porn.  And she’s still of the opinion that boys are immature and weird and not worth her time.  You’ll be happy to know that I did not disabuse her of that notion.”

“Um, thanks?” said Chris.

“I went over all the puberty stuff, what to expect.  She hasn’t shaved her legs yet, but she wants to.  I figured you two wouldn’t be up for that, so I told her she can come over this weekend and we’ll make a day out of it.  Bra shopping and everything.”

“Thank you so much for this, Katie,” Zach said with a relieved sigh, hugging Katie lightly.

“Don’t thank me just yet.  I still think you need to talk to her.  She knows what sex is, she just doesn’t really know what it _means_ – and I think that should come from her own parents.”

Chris bit his lip nervously, but said, “You’re right.  We’ll do it.”

Katie smiled and stood to go.  “Somehow, even with you two, she managed to turn out all right.  Be proud of her.”

“We are,” Zach said, getting up and hugging her for real.

“I told her that she can always come and talk to me if there’s something she didn’t feel like she could tell you.”

“Thaaaaaaaank you, big sis,” Chris sing-songed, accompanying the sentiment with an overwhelming glomp of a hug.

“Bailing you out yet again,” she sighed, poking Chris in the ribs until he unwittingly let out a noise not unlike that of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

They saw her out, thanking her profusely all the way.  As soon as the door closed, Chris collapsed a little against Zach, burying his face in Zach’s shoulder.  “I guess we should do this now,” he muttered, his voice mostly muffled by Zach’s cardigan.

“Waiting won’t make it any easier,” Zach observed.

“No.  Better to just rip the Band-aid off.”

A pause. 

“So then why haven’t we moved?”

“Er, I was waiting for you to go first?” Chris said innocently.

Zach groaned and pushed them both into motion, heading for the stairs.  Chris clutched his hand tightly the whole way up and didn’t let go as Zach knocked on Nina’s half-open door.  “Can we come in?” he asked softly.

Nina looked up from her book, startled.  “Oh, crap, I thought it was over.”

Chris laughed nervously.  “No such luck, Neener-Beener.  Remember that this is just as awkward for us as it is for you.”

“Not.  Possible,” she groaned, head falling back against the headboard with a loud bang.  “Ouch.”

Chris was immediately beside her, rubbing the back of her head gently.  “Try not to injure yourself.  Going to the hospital with a concussion will _not_ get you out of this.”

Zach smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed near her feet.  “I know this is pretty weird for you, but it’s our job.  There’s a lot of crazy stuff out there – I’m sure you’ve heard some of it from your friends or on TV or wherever – but we want to make sure you know what’s right and what isn’t.”

There was an uncomfortable pause, but luckily, Chris had the presence of mind to ask, “So, what did Aunt Katie say?”

“She said that we needed to talk.  And that she’s been covering for your sorry ass since the third grade.”

“Sorry _butt_ ,” Zach reprimanded, unable to keep the smile from twisting his lips.  “She’s been covering for Pop’s sorry _butt_ since the third grade.”

“And she shouldn’t be using language like that around you,” Chris said with a frown.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Zach said pointedly, gently flicking Chris on the elbow.  “What did Aunt Katie tell you…”  Zach took a deep breath.  “About sex?”

“Well, I already knew where babies come from.  Y’know, uh…” Nina started to blush and looked down at her hands, mumbling.  “Sperm, egg, condoms, that stuff.  And I knew some about periods, but we talked about that for a while.”

“Good,” Chris said.  “That’s the kind of thing you’ll want to talk to her about.  I mean, you can always ask us questions, but we’ll probably have to ask Aunt Katie for the answers anyway.”

Zach jumped in quickly.  “But don’t be afraid to come to us with _any_ questions.  We’ll never lie to you about this stuff, no matter how awkward it gets.  As you get older, as you start…” he gulped “…dating, it’s important that you know how things work.  Between people, I mean, not just body parts.”

Nina squirmed.  “Daa-aad, I’m not going to be _dating_ any time soon,” she said with obvious disgust.

Chris sighed with relief.  “You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that.”

“But,” Zach said, “we’d rather you know all this stuff before you start.”

Chris nodded.  “Listen, your dad and I… we’re very protective of you.  That’s just kind of how dads are.  If we could, we would keep you as our little girl for the next ten years, then let you magically turn into a fully grown adult overnight.  It can be really tough to be a teenager, and a lot of that is related to dating and to, uh, to sex.”

“Sex is…” Zach started, silently praying that the words would come out right.  “Well, sex _isn’t_ some horrible, dark thing that you should never talk or think about.  But it is a big deal, especially when you’re younger, because it can have some pretty lasting consequences.  And not just pregnancy or diseases.”

Chris scooted up closer to her.  “Sex is different for boys than it is for girls – I’m sure you’ve figured out that part already.  It’s… more complicated for girls.  For boys, it feels good right away, but for girls it can take some time to understand your body, how it works and what makes you feel good.  Maybe that’s not fair, but that’s how it usually is.”

Zach tried to smile sympathetically.  “I’m not going to pretend I know much about it, other than what my female friends have told me, but it can be difficult your first time.  Especially if the boy is not being careful or paying attention to what you’re feeling.”

“That’s why we think—” Chris glanced at Zach for reassurance.  “We think you ought to wait until you’re in love.  Until you’re with somebody who loves you back and treats you well and plans on sticking around for a very long time.  One of the worst feelings in the world, no matter how old you are, is when you’ve slept with someone thinking they feel the same way about you that you do about them, and then finding out they don’t.”

Nina wasn’t quite meeting either of their eyes, but she was sitting very still and seemed to be listening.  “Your Pop and I, we didn’t always make the best decisions when we were younger,” Zach said carefully.  “I won’t go into detail, but my first time was not special.  I didn’t feel good about myself afterwards.  In a lot of ways, it’s easier for boys to make bad decisions about sex than girls.  Fewer consequences.  Even the thought of sex makes most teenage boys act like idiots.”

“They already act like idiots,” Nina mumbled.

“Most of them stay that way for a while,” Chris said with an uneasy smile.  “If I could choose for you, I would tell you to wait until you’re at least eighteen.  Maybe that sounds old-fashioned, but in a lot of ways it makes sense.  How you feel about yourself, what you like, what you want – that will all change a lot in the next few years.  And that’s good, that’s how it’s supposed to be.  It’s not until you’re a little bit older that you understand yourself.”

“And as you get older, it’s possible you might realize you have romantic feelings for girls instead of boys,” Zach said.  “Or you have feelings for both boys and girls.  If that happens, it’s perfectly fine.  It’s normal.  I was about thirteen when I realized that I just didn’t feel that way about girls and probably wasn’t ever going to.”

Chris nodded.  “And I thought for a long time that I _only_ felt that way about girls.  See what I mean about not understanding yourself until you’re older?”  Nina nodded.  “Either way, remember that we love you and we want you to find someone who makes you happy.  Even if you make some mistakes along the way – and you will, it happens – we’re always going to love you.”

Nina’s eyes were starting to glaze over, and Zach figured they were starting to overload her with information.  She was still just eleven, after all.  “But it’s not something you have to worry about right now,” Zach said.  “You won’t be dating at all this year.  Or next year, probably.”

Chris caught his eye, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile.  “Or the year after that.”

“Hmm, better count this whole decade out,” Zach said, stroking his chin sagely.

“Next decade’s not looking too good either.”

“I think you should be ready to date by, oh, what do you say, Pop?  Forty or so?”

“Could work.  Though I might push it back to forty-five, fifty, just to be safe.”

By that time, Nina was rolling her eyes with great angst.  “You _guys_.”

“We’re your dads,” Zach said, gently laying a hand on her ankle.  “We’re always going to think of you as our baby.”

“It’s true,” Chris agreed.  “It’s in the manual.  That and the terrible jokes.”

“That explains so much,” Nina sighed, and Zach felt a swell of pride at how grown up she sounded – with only a slight pang of anxiety to go with it.

Chris squeezed her shoulder.  “I know your dad and I have been doing most of the talking.  Is there anything you want to ask us?”

Nina bit her lip, a gesture so reminiscent of Chris that Zach had to smile.  “Not, um, not right now.”

“Okay, I think we can declare the awkwardness over for now,” Zach said, going around the bed to put an arm around her shoulders.   She still felt so small in his arms, and he fought the overwhelming urge to pull her close and refuse to let her go.  “But we mean it – any questions, see us or Aunt Katie first.  Or even Uncle Joe.”

Chris joined in the hug, and Zach was overcome, utterly bowled over by the sudden rush of love and gratitude.  But Chris helpfully brought him back to the present by poking Zach hard in the arm.  “Uncle Joe?  Really?”

“Well, we’ll put Uncle Joe fourth on the list.”  Chris didn’t look entirely appeased, but he didn’t push it farther.

Evidently finished hugging, Nina wriggled her way out of their combined embrace.  “What’s wrong with Uncle Joe?”

It was Chris’ turn to sigh heavily.  “So many things, Neeners.  One time he lit a couch on fire and shoved it off the roof of a seven-story building just to hear the sound it made when it hit the pavement.”

“Hey,” Zach said, trying to work up some indignation, “that’s my brother you’re talking about!”

“You’re the one who told me that story!”

“Did it make a cool sound?” Nina asked.

Zach looked at her.  Well, he’d promised to be honest.  “It really, really did.  Though setting it on fire was completely unnecessary and made the aftermath much more complicated.”

“Sometimes things seem like a good idea at the time, but twenty years later, you’ll look back and think, ‘Wow, I really wish, for my career’s sake, that I didn’t have an outstanding arrest warrant in the greater Pittsburgh area.’”  Chris clapped her on the shoulder and regarded her seriously.  “There’s a life lesson we threw in for free.  The next one’s gonna cost you.”

“Thanks, Pop,” she said, only a little sarcastic and ending on a wide yawn.

“Don’t mention it.”  Chris leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and Zach followed suit.

“We love you,” he said.

“Like crazy,” Chris added.  “Good night.”

“G’night,” Nina said, picking up her book again.  “Love you, too.”

Zach closed the door behind them but left it slightly ajar.  They glanced at each other and silently made their way down the hall and the stairs, waiting until they were back in their own bedroom to collapse onto the bed and groan with relief.

“Thank god that’s over,” Chris moaned.  “For now.”

Zach nudged him with his elbow.  “You did really well.”

Chris smiled.  “So did you.”

“I thought she was going to ask more questions.”

“Maybe she will later.  For all those lectures I got from my mom, I don’t think I ever said a word.  Just sat there and blushed until I thought I’d burst into flames.”

“Chris Pine, shy about sex,” Zach chuckled.  “Who knew?”

“God, I was so awkward.  Even when I got over the ugly duckling thing.”

“What ‘ugly duckling thing’?”

Chris groaned and scrunched up his eyes.  “You’ve seen pictures of the hair.  And the goatee.”

“Hey, the late ‘90s was the modern golden age of the goatee.”  Zach laughed and fisted a hand in Chris’ shirt, dragging them together on the bed.  “Though, yeah, yours was pretty bad.”

Chris punched him lightly in the shoulder, but spoiled whatever effect that was supposed to have by leaning in and kissing Zach chastely.  Sweetly.  “We raised a good kid.”

Zach smiled against his lips.  “We’re not done yet.”

“Mmm, let’s just enjoy the moment.”

Zach scooted even closer, wrapping arm over Chris to stick a hand in his back pocket and pull them against each other from knees to chest.  “Let the enjoyment commence.”


End file.
